1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to guns which do not have standard internal rifling and, particularly, to marking guns (commonly called "paintball guns") having various applications including the recreational sport of Paintball (also known as "Capture the Flag" or "Survival").
Paintball is a popular sport played on large outdoor fields. The object of the game is to capture the flag of the opposing team. Players are eliminated when they are struck by a small, rubberized ball containing paint. The ball is designed to rupture and splatter paint on the stricken player. The paintballs are shot by gas-powered paintball guns, which generally resemble elongated pistols. The paintball guns expel the paintballs by releasing gas (typically CO.sub.2) under pressure. Paintball guns have other uses, such as marking livestock. A related gun is the tranquilizer gun, which fires treated darts using compressed gas.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To date, inaccuracy has been a major problem for paintball guns. Paintball players have frequently complained that after spending several minutes stalking their opponent for the perfect shot, they took aim, fired and missed. This was especially true when the shots were taken in the wind.
Many unsuccessful attempts have been made in the past to improve the accuracy of paintball guns. Most involved barrel sizing or improving the barrel finish. More particularly, certain attempts have been made to create internal rifling of the paintball gun barrel, similar to rifling in an actual firearm. This generally involves placement of spiralled grooves inside the paintball gun barrel. Again, this attempt to improve accuracy has been unsuccessful because paintballs are not strong enough to withstand standard internal rifling. When the paintball is shot through the barrel, the force of the paintball engaging the grooves causes the paintball to break.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,327,723; 2,779,323 and 3,949,731 all disclose the general concept of perforating the barrel of a firearm. None of these references, however, disclose perforations employed as a means to improve accuracy.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,819,609 and 4,936,282 disclose gas-powered paintball guns. Neither one of these references teach or suggest perforating the barrel of the paintball gun for any reason.
The general concept of perforating a gun barrel, particularly near the muzzle end, is a well known technique employed for reducing recoil in both hand guns as well as rifles and shotguns. Even military cannons, particularly those used on tanks, include muzzle blast compensators having ventilation openings on the sides of the barrel. However, nothing in the prior art reviewed teaches or suggests perforating the barrel of a firearm for the purpose of improving accuracy.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to stabilize the spin on a paintball for improving the accuracy of the paintball shot. It is a further object to improve long distance accuracy of paintball shots and also to increase the percentage of paintballs which break on impact. It is a still further object of the invention to permit the escape of moisture build-up in the paintball gun barrel and to lower the noise created by the paintball shot.